Race Report: Battle of the Boulevard

Before the race started, I ran into some Capital Striders and we were talking about the course and weather. All down hill going out and up hill coming back. And it was a bit warm. I wasn’t sure what my time would be. I feel like I’ve been going faster, so on a good day, flat course, I’d be in position to PR.

I started out running a bit faster than an 8 min pace. About 2 miles in a started to slow. We were getting direct sun on the course and it was getting hot. About half a mile from the turn around they had music playing. As I went by it the first time, it was Born to Run. One the way back it was Running Down a Dream. Great running music; I wanted to punch my hands in the air during the chorus of Born to Run.

I had to talk myself through the second half of the race. "Don't Quit." "Boston." "Run through the pain." "I own this hill." I managed to feel pretty good after getting up this monster hill that lasted from about mile 4 to mile 5. After that, I figured the hills wouldn’t be so bad, but they kept coming. I noticed this girl and I decided that I had to beat her. She just didn't look like much of a runner. (Isn't that horrible of me? It also goes to show that you shouldn't judge people on how they look.) For the last half mile, I tried to keep ahead of her, if I saw her approaching in my peripheral vision, I sped up. Right at the finish, I saw her moving up and I surged. I nearly puked after I finished.

56:31. No PR, not even close. I ran that pace in the Cherry Blossom 10 miler the week after the National Marathon. Still, in a training perspective, I certainly pushed myself. That’s the end of the Spring racing season for me.

Here's a print out of data from the race. The blue area is elevation, the red line is heart rate, the blue line is pace. You might have to click on it to get a good view.

I ran this morning; it was cooler than yesterday. It was such a gorgeous day, thought I might go out for 10. I ended up going running just over 6. I was surprisingly slow, but over the course of the run, I began feeling stronger. That caused me to reflect on the value of recovery runs.

Bring the Pain

Daily quote from Runner’s World:
"Learn to run when feeling the pain; then push harder." William Sigei, Kenyan runner.

That’s perfect for today. I didn’t get my run in yesterday because I had to get to the office a bit earlier than normal. So I upped the intensity today. In general, I think more intensity is going to be the guidance for my training for the MCM.

To get into running, I had to learn to take it easy. I simply focused on increasing mileage. Nearly every run was an “easy” run. The ones that weren’t, were usually long (at an easy pace or slower).

Now it’s time to bring the pain, get used to it, live in it. I bet most of what I have to do is convince the parts of my brain that I don’t control that going faster is something I can sustain.

Today I ran normally for the first ¾ mile. Then, I ran a mile at a quicker pace, aiming for 8:00, I came closer to 8:10. I took a quarter mile at a very easy pace, then did it again. I tried to do this three times, but ended up splitting that last mile up into two sections. The hills of the Custis trail definitely took their toll. Over all, just over 7 miles at an average pace of 9:17/mi. I feel good.

What hurts today: nothing. Well, actually my upper body is a bit sore from strength training the other day, but it’s a good sore.